Dang guys, significantly less traffic than the 3/23 group! I guess that could be a good thing.
Anyways, thought I'd do a quick FAQ just for fun. This is by no means official information and is mainly my opinion. I could be wrong! Please point it out if I am.
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1. OMG, I think I voided! What do I do?
If you went on to the trial or received that paper at the end you didn't void. Also, if you hypothetically selected the wrong choice on the most straight forward yet most important bubble in question of the whole exam how do you think the rest of the exam went?
2. The typical I think I bombed it:
Don't do anything until you know which will be tomorrow. Another day isn't worth total cost - whatever refund money. Now if you thought you legit bombed and app cycle is coming up and you can not afford to have to wait longer than you need to for a retake go ahead and schedule an emergency-back up retake just in case because availability given one month's time is definitely different. Also, note that the test is curved therefore the MCAT may seem dramatically different from the real thing but chances are you'll score around the same. I thought I could remember 5 PS questions I had to straight up guess on and like 4 I found were wrong later. Still ended up with a decent score on PS. I''m not really sure how curving works. Some say there are pre-set curves with everyone having different versions (and they are preset curves based on difficulty). AAMC seems to imply they want to make sure everyone gets the score they deserve and want to analyze the data carefully which hints that they do something after the exam. We all know there's experimental questions on the MCAT too that get thrown out. Anyways, if you do YOUR BEST (dont take it easy and dont panic-stay in the zone) then chances are you'll end up with similar scores to your AAMCs regardless of perceived difficulty. Looks like some people what I'd experienced on my test. Some people said PS was difficult (like me) and some said BS was difficult (no one said both were easy or hard...so maybe that'd shed some light on things). Overall who knows what they do though. Speculating is just for entertainment purposes in my opinion.
3. Will my application be significantly delayed if I take another MCAT?
They'll take your current one in and will wait for the new one before sending you secondaries. This may vary by school but this is what I've seen thus far. Just pre-write your secondaries and you won't the earliest but you'll be okay. It's best not to worry about small things like this unless your in a position to change them which you're not. I recommend submitting your application June 4th (just to get verified) to one school you're applying to and then add schools later when ur future mcat comes in.
4. I have a W, X, Y = Z composite. Should I retake? (non-URMs only, mainly for MD apps).
There's a sticky for it where you can post you're inquiry and someone will respond.
In my opinion, there are three categories of test takers.
One just wants something from 26-29. These people are ok for settling for the DO schools. I think if you're aiming for a 26+ and you score a 23 or below then you should consider retaking, if and only if, your AAMC scores were 26+. Otherwise, you're probably going to take it again and do the same. Might as well just apply this cycle if the rest of the app is competitive or defer until next cycle when you think you're ready.
The second just wants something 30 of higher. This was me. If you're like this do not retake (only for people at this tense stage of the game before applications!!!!) unless you're below 27 OR if a certain section (cough..verbal) is 7 or below. Now, if you're at a 7 you're in the gray zone and it's your decision but note that a 7 is not looked upon favorably at MDs (neither is an 8 but you'll live if you're 30+). Now if you've scored 27-29 (with nothing lower than an 8) I would just advise you apply broadly this cycle if everything else is strong. It does cost a lot of money but if you get in somewhere it's all worth it. If you have that 3.8+ GPA, research, clinical volunteering, and community volunteering you should just take a shot! If you are lacking research and want to apply to the research heavy schools or are lacking in clinical volunteering in general or if your GPA is below 3.6 you may just want to consider sitting the app cycle out. Then you can get solid grades on your transcript and beef up your experience. That plus a solid MCAT makes you look totally different as an applicant.
The third group is out to achieve something big. They're the grinders who're probably averaging 35+ on their practice exams and expect that on the real thing. These would include most MSTP applicants, gunners, Top 20 applicants etc. In this case, if your real score was 4 points or more below your average AND your real score is below a 34 (approx 90th percentile) I'd consider the retake. For example if you're averaging 36 and you score a 32...Also, ff verbal's below an 8 I'd consider retaking unless you've been already averaging that. My friend got a 9 on verbal and ended up with what he's been getting on his real exams for science and ended up with a 29 and he retook that. He was averaging 7s and 8s normally. You don't retake that! (at least you don't go in cold to retake it...you prep extensively).
The most important thing for the retake though is asking yourself if you really WANT to retake the exam. If you think that you'd have to force yourself to do so then just chillax. You'll be a doctor soon regardless, just try to preserve your sanity. If after a few weeks you're already planning your retake schedule and are getting pumped this is a sign you should to retake if your score meets the retake standards. If you're praying to god you got what you wanted and have not thought about a retake and are completely exhausted from finals/MCAT studying and are extremely busy considering deferring the decision for awhile.
5. MCAT Thx refresh refresh refreshh....gahh!!! when does it come out?!??!? Well I've taken in twice now and my friend's taken it once in the past 2012-2013 yr and it's always been very consistent for us. It's a little after 3 PM ET (so like 3:16 for example). If you don't want this coming Wednesday to be a gut wrenching experience I'd just wait until 3:30 to check. Watch TV shows or something until then. Haha, don't bore yourself with MCAT prep...you'll get nothing done and will be checking every minute. Also, there's no point Tweeting AAMC about it. They will not tell you anything but may make you more anxious by saying things like they can't even confirm if it's today. I've never seen an MCAT release not on it's tentative release date. Also, AAMC tweets about 10-15 minutes after results are officially released so your best guide is SDN.
6. This isn't really a frequent concern but just a bit of advice... After taking my MCAT the first time and not doing that well thinking I might as well just be straight forward and I told a couple of people my scores but told them not to tell anyone. Soon enough everyone knew my scores and one person asked me if I was going to cancel my application and why I scored that low. That really hurt and I felt really stupid and I noticed people started writing me off as not as smart as they thought I was. Just tell your close friends who you can absolutely trust. Don't tell that stupid freshman pre-med who's all beady eyed and thinks he's going to score a 35 or higher already without starting prep.He doesn't even have the context.
That's about it. Good luck everyone. If you did not do so hot I don't recommend bouncing right back. Give yourself a few days to relax, give yourself some credit, plan, and then finally get back to it!
The trick is to spend a few minutes staring at the screen, click an answer, cross it out, come back and change it, etc. **** them, I'm not going to give them statistically useful data so they can make the MCAT even more annoying. **** them even harder for raising the price of the test $30 then offering a $30 "gift" card for sitting through their bull**** trial section.
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